Chapter 214: Better Than the Nation's Destruction

Rokuro Yashiro stood silently, his face expressionless. Only after Okura no Shinosuke finished roaring did he slowly speak.

"The Army Minister is right. This disastrous defeat is an inescapable responsibility of the Navy. As Navy Minister, I am prepared to resign and atone for it."

"Resign?" Okura no Shinosuke sneered. "Can resignation bring back four thousand lives? Can it make four Kongo-class battleships rise from the seabed? Minister Yashiro, are you taking things too lightly?"

"Then what does the Army Minister think I should do?" Rokuro Yashiro finally raised his head, his eyes behind his glasses staring straight at Okura no Shinosuke. "Do you want me to commit seppuku right now to atone?"

"You..." Okura no Shinosuke was momentarily speechless.

"Enough!" Shigenobu Okuma slammed the table abruptly. "Now is not the time for quarreling! We face a national crisis! The Lanfang fleet has already appeared west of the Gotō Islands and may threaten the homeland at any moment! What we need to do now is figure out how to respond, not blame each other here!"

The Prime Minister's authority briefly silenced the meeting room. But Okura no Shinosuke still sat down with a dark face, the fury in his eyes undiminished.

Shigenobu Okuma took a deep breath and turned to Rokuro Yashiro: "On the Navy side, how much combat power is still available now?"

Rokuro Yashiro looked at Shigetaro Shimada. The Chief of the Naval General Staff quickly stood to answer: "Your Excellency the Prime Minister, the main force ships currently available for immediate deployment in the homeland include the three battleships Katori, Kashima, and Aki, as well as six pre-dreadnoughts including Shikishima, Asahi, and Mikasa. However, these vessels are all relatively old, with a maximum main gun caliber of only 305 millimeters, slow speed, and armor that..."

"In other words, not a single one can face the Lanfang Bismarck Class head-on?" Shigenobu Okuma asked directly.

Shigeta Shimada fell silent. The answer was obvious.

"What about coastal defense guns?" Army Chief of Staff Yoshimichi Hasegawa spoke up. The sixty-five-year-old veteran's voice was loud and clear, carrying a soldier's characteristic bluntness. "Tokyo Bay, Osaka Bay, the Seto Inland Sea—the Empire has operated a coastal defense system for decades. Can't it even stop four enemy ships?"

"The maximum range of the coastal defense guns is only eighteen thousand meters," Shigeta Shimada said in a low voice. "And according to battle reports, the main gun range of the Lanfang battleships exceeds twenty-five thousand meters. They can shell our ports at will from a distance we cannot reach."

Yoshimichi Hasegawa's brow furrowed tightly: "Then let them get closer before firing! Or use torpedo boats for night raids! During the Russo-Japanese War, we defeated the Russians with these tactics!"

"Times have changed, Your Excellency Hasegawa." Rokuro Yashiro finally spoke, his voice weary. "The Lanfang ships are equipped with advanced radar systems that can detect targets at night and in fog. Their secondary guns have an extremely high rate of fire, forming a dense barrage, making it hard for torpedo boats to get close. As for letting them enter the range of the coastal defense guns... what if they don't come in? They shell from outside, destroying our port facilities, shipyards, and warehouses—what do we do then?"

"Then sortie! Send out all remaining ships and fight them to the death!" Okura no Shinosuke interjected again. "That's better than sitting around waiting to die!"

"And then gamble away our last remaining assets?" Rokuro Yashiro looked at him coldly. "Army Minister, naval warships are not disposable consumables. Building one Kongo-class battleship takes three years and costs tens of millions of yen. If we throw all remaining ships into the fight now, the Empire will lose command of the sea for the next decade. By then, forget Lanfang—even Korea and Taiwan might not be held!"

"Then what do you suggest?!" Okura no Shinosuke roared. "Are we supposed to just stand by and watch the enemy flaunt their power at our doorstep? Do you know how much of a blow this will deal to national morale?!"

"I know." Rokuro Yashiro's voice suddenly dropped. "That's why I said the Navy bears an inescapable responsibility. But precisely because of that, we cannot, out of momentary pride, lose the Empire's last bargaining chips."

He turned to Shigenobu Okuma: "Your Excellency the Prime Minister, I recommend: First, immediately use diplomatic channels to attempt contact with Lanfang and explore the possibility of a ceasefire; second, withdraw all remaining naval forces to the inland sea, organize defense relying on the coastal defense system, and avoid direct engagement with the enemy's main force; third... initiate peace talks as soon as possible."

"Peace talks?!" This time, not only Okura no Shinosuke but even Finance Minister Reijiro Wakatsuki stood up in shock. "Negotiate peace now? Then what about our four thousand-plus dead and over a dozen warships?!"

"If we continue fighting, the losses will be even greater." Rokuro Yashiro's voice remained calm, but that calm now seemed exceptionally cruel. "Gentlemen, please wake up. We have already lost. We have lost the East China Sea, lost the Combined Fleet, and lost the qualification to contend with Lanfang for supremacy in the Far East. What we must consider now is not how to save face, but how to stop the bleeding."

He paused, then said word by word: "How to protect what remains of the Empire—Taiwan, Korea, and even... the security of the homeland."

"Absurd!" Okura no Shinosuke trembled with rage. "Rokuro Yashiro! You are shaking the very foundation of the nation! Since the Empire's founding, there has never been a precedent of surrendering without a fight! Even if the Navy has lost, the Army is still here! We have seventeen standing divisions, five hundred thousand elite troops! If the Lanfang people dare to land, we'll make sure they never return!"

"And what if they don't land?" Rokuro Yashiro countered. "They use those four battleships to blockade our ports, shell our cities, and destroy our economy. Army Minister, how long do you think the Empire can hold out? One month? Three months? Half a year?"

He walked to the map on the wall and pointed at the Japanese archipelago: "We are an island nation. Eighty percent of our food relies on imports, ninety percent of our industrial raw materials rely on imports. Once the sea lanes are cut off, we will collapse on our own without the enemy even attacking."

"Enough!" Shigenobu Okuma slammed the table again, his face now ashen. "Minister Yashiro, your remarks are too pessimistic!"

"I am merely stating the facts, Your Excellency the Prime Minister." Rokuro Yashiro turned around and bowed deeply. "I am sorry, but I must speak my judgment. If the war continues, the Empire's end will only be total, irredeemable defeat. While we still have bargaining chips—we still have the Army, we still have an intact homeland—negotiating peace as soon as possible is the only way to secure relatively favorable terms."

"You mean ceding territory and paying reparations?!" Foreign Minister Takaaki Kato's face was grim. "That is diplomatically unacceptable! How will the international community see us?"

"Better than the nation's destruction." Rokuro Yashiro said only five words.

The meeting room fell into a complete deadlock. The conflict between the Army faction and the Navy faction had become open and white-hot. One side insisted on fighting to the death, the other advocated immediate peace talks. And Prime Minister Shigenobu Okuma, caught in the middle, was torn between the two.